Richie said:
Pbass,
Snorkling in an indoor pond is not exactly observing their natural behaviour they are still constricted by a unnatural barrier. I have been to the Amazon on various occasions and have been lucky to see the interactions, type of habitat, breeding and feeding behaviour however I would not descibe myself as any expert because as yet there is still so much unknown about the Cichla species.
In your reply you say you will write about decency, this wasn't the question, I too believe that fish should not be allowed to be kept in such small enclosures, but then you are leaning towards some sort of regulation of fishkeeping. Is this something you would embrace?
Actually, You can see a large portion of their habbits. Fish dont automatically change their ways of living when you put them in a tank. I have found that Cichla's behaiver is very close to large (16+ inch) Large mouth Bass. I have 4 friends that go to SA yearly to catch Peacocks, They also agree about their habbits being close to the same with LMBs.
Breeding habbits, hunting habbits, shoaling habbits, ect ect are close to the same.
This being said, I can get a rather large Idea of how Cichla are in the wild by documenting large LMB in the wild. Every summer I spend time at a certain lake where LMB are located watching them spawn and interact with other fish.
Also, Watching fish from the surface is limiting. Get down in the water and take some video clips for us.
I personally think Large scale fish should not be purchased unless you have a large system to support them.
There should be morals within fishkeeping that effect peoples conciousness when buying fish that get huge.
But unfortunatly Religion has created a false sence of greatness and Ideas that Animals are here for our service and nothing more.